(a) Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a hair treatment device for use in applying dyeing, and bleaching chemicals to hair to achieve highlighting, frosting, and multi-color weaving. More specifically, it relates to a hair device in the form of a flexible wrap which includes means to isolate a portion of the hair for chemical treatment, and to methods of using such a device.
(b) Description of the Prior Art
Currently dimensional hair coloring, including highlighting, frosting, and multi-color weaving has come to the forefront of the hair colorist art. Although many products and methods have been used in the art of color application, few, if any, satisfy all of the needs of the modern professional colorist.
Included in these prior art techniques is hair painting, which is an elementary method of achieving dimensional or contrasting hair color. In this method the colorist applies a liquid bleach or coloring agent directly to the portion of the hair which is to be colored. However, the liquid penetrates the entire depth of the hair, which is not desirable where the intent is to achieve precision dimensional results. While it may seem simple, it is in fact a difficult and inefficient way to achieve the desired results.
In another method it has been suggested to use a pastry bag and a thickened coloring agent. This method provides the benefit of providing greater control of the application of the coloring agent than is possible using a brush and thin liquid as in the painting method. This method also has the advantage of even color flow and a reduced need for the colorist to repeatedly dip a brush into the coloring agent. However, there is still the possibility of color bleeding onto hair that is not intended to receive color. While this method is superior to hair painting, it produces far from totally satisfactory results.
The use of specially designed cups for coloring hair has been suggested to aid in isolating only the hair to be treated or receive color. Such cups consist of a base member having a slit for receiving hair. In use, a portion of the hair which is to be woven is inserted in the slit of the cup base, and the base is then positioned as close to the scalp as possible by tensioning with one hand and pushing the base against the head with the other hand. The hair protruding from the cup is then wound and compacted into the cup which is then press fitted onto the base. This procedure is repeated until all portions of the hair to be colored are enclosed in the cups. The coloring agent is then introduced to the cups and allowed to process to completion. While this technique is an improvement over the prior methods described, in that it isolates the hair to be colored, it is still subject to many disadvantages. For example, in the use of such cups, it has been found necessary to first wet the hair before applying the cup base in order to provide enough friction in the slit to hold the base in place. However, as the hair dries the cups tend to slide away from the head due to a reduction in friction, and the colorist must continually reposition the cups. Most detrimental to the use of such cups is the fact that the compacting of hair into the cups severely limits the ability of ambient oxygen to access the coloring or dyeing chemicals, thereby retarding the oxidation process necessary for full color development of most coloring agents. Furthermore, no matter how carefully the cup bases are applied or, how much the colorist adjusts them to maintain them in place, the cup bases still occupy at least about one quarter inch of space on the hair adjacent to the scalp, which occupied space will not be treated by the coloring agent, thereby leaving the roots of the hair or a portion of hair and scalp discolored. Furthermore, the water which is applied to provide friction to the hair dilutes the coloring agent. Additionally, since the cups are about one inch in diameter the sections of hair to be colored must be at least one inch apart, thereby limiting the effects which can be achieved, and making retouching of new hair growth difficult. As this method requires a colorist to apply and then manipulate a plurality of cups, it is very time consuming and very inefficient.
A cap frosting method is sometimes used to achieve dimensional hair coloring. In this method a close fitting rubber or plastic cap is pulled tightly over the to-be-colored head. The cap is provided with a plurality of small holes through which the colorist can inserts a small crochet hook to pull a bundle of strands of hair through the hole in the cap. This procedure is repeated as often as necessary to achieve the desired effect, e.g., 50 to 100 times. The hair thus isolated through the holes from the hair under the cap is then treated with a coloring agent and allowed to process. After the processing is completed the cap is removed from the head and the hair is shampooed to remove the excess or unreacted coloring agent. While among the easiest of the prior art methods, cap frosting still has many disadvantages. There is a substantial amount of hair underneath the cap which holds the cap away from the head. Therefore, when the colorist inserts the crochet hook to retrieve hair from underneath the cap, hair may be pulled from a scalp portion not located directly under the hole, thus, roots and sections of hair which are close to the scalp may not receive coloring agent, thereby creating an undesirable effect. Also, the cap method makes it difficult to apply more than one type or color of coloring agent to the hair for fear of adjacent portions of differently colored hair blending the coloring agents. This method by nature is haphazard at best and ineffective for the demands of the modern colorist.
A very difficult and time consuming technique of the prior art, is the basic foil method. In the basic foil method, the hair to be colored is first isolated by known weaving techniques, and then a sheet of aluminum foil is placed against the scalp with the edge of the foil as close to the roots of the to-be-treated hair as possible. The coloring agent is then applied to the isolated strands of hair within the foil sheet. The lower end of the foil is then folded towards the head two or more times, and the sides are folded inward toward the center to form a rigid, sealed, crimped packet containing hair which has been treated with coloring agent. This procedure is repeated approximately fifty times for a full head of hair. While the basic foil method is excellent for isolating desired strands of hair, it does have many serious drawbacks. The most important drawback is that it creates a substantially air tight envelope. Most known permanent coloring agents include some amount of hydrogen peroxide, and require ambient oxygen from the air in order for a chemical reaction, known as oxidation, to take place and to work as designed and suggested by their manufacturers. By the substantially air tight folding and crimping of the foil, the colorist and client are denied the proper use of such coloring agents, with the result that there is uneven color distribution, with some portions of the hair being under processed, while other portions of the hair may be over processed, and perhaps damaged. When using foil, additional damage is sometimes done to the hair by placing the client under heat to force the color development process due to the lack of oxidation.
This basic foil technique also requires the tedious and time consuming effort in simultaneously holding the hair and the foil while also weaving the hair. Most often, a third hand is needed to accomplish this, in most cases in the form of a costly assistant to hold the foil in position. Once in place, the foil has a tendency to slip away from the scalp area due to manipulation in applying the coloring agent, the folding and crimping process, and its own weight. Such slipping causes the coloring agent to be removed from the root area, and also allows exposed coloring agent to blend onto adjacent strands of hair which are not intended for coloration. After the coloring agent and foil are applied to the hair, then during processing the foils must be reopened to inspect the color development, thereby increasing the risk of color bleeding onto the scalp and surrounding hair resulting in blotchy or patchy uneven color as a result of such slippage. The basic foil technique also requires that the foil strips be precut to adjust to different lengths of hair while hair in excess of a certain length, say over ten inches, is compacted into the foil envelope which is formed, thereby further increasing the uneven distribution and processing of the coloring agent on the treated hair, with an inferior end result appearance.
Variations of the basic foil method have been suggested, such as in Minghenelli U.S. Pat. No. 4,196,741, which discloses the use of liquid-impermeable sheets of aluminum foil, which are provided with a coating of pressure-sensitive adhesive, such as a double sided adhesive tape, which is adjacent to one edge of the sheet, with an optional stripable cover over the pressure-sensitive adhesive in order to protect it prior to use. The process of using such a foil comprises separating a portion of to-be-treated hair from the remaining hair on the head, adhering one of the liquid-impermeable foil sheet to the scalp and hair of the head immediately adjacent to and below the roots of the portion of hair to be treated, and treating the selected portion of hair with any desired liquid coloring agent, such as a bleach or dye, and permitting the treated hair to overlie the central portion of the liquid-impermeable adhesively adhered foil sheet while the coloring agent is processed. Optionally, the foil sheet taught by Minghenelli may be folded or rolled toward the head, followed by folding the edges inwardly to form an envelope, thus isolating the coloring agent from the remainder of the head of hair and treating only the selected portion of hair, as in the basic foil method.
In another variation of the foil technique, a foil with a transparent plastic window, and also with an adhesive strip having a pull away protective adhesive covering is known in the prior art. Not only do these devices and the methods of using them insert extra steps into the application, but the adhesives have a tendency to adhere to the porous hair shaft more strongly than to the non-porous foil, and therefore tend to release the adhesives onto the porous hair shaft. These additional steps do nothing to improve on the quality and/or ability of the basic foil method to allow oxidization, to increase the speed of application, or to allow for the proper use of the color agent.
Most recently, a European device which is used in hair coloring business, and which is designated as L'Oreal EASI MECHE has been found. It carries what appears to be a European patent application number 0/122/145, but efforts to find that application have been unsuccessful as of the date of filing this application. Upon examination of this device and its instructions, the L'Oreal EAST MECHE device is found to be comprised of three different pieces: an opaque backing strip, an adhesive strip across the top edge of the opaque backing strip, and a clear front cover. The opaque backing strip is composed of thin, opaque non-porous plastic material, and serves as a backing strip which will lay next to the head of a person having their hair colored. The clear front cover is a thin transparent sheet of non-porous plastic material which lays over the top of the opaque backing sheet. The opaque backing strip and the clear front cover are joined together, by heat welding, at their common bottom edges to form a permanent crease which is capable of being opened, like a file folder, to receive to-be-treated hair. The bottom crease is separated from and opposed to the position of the adhesive strip. When the device is used, a portion of to-be-treated hair is selected or woven from the roots out, the backing strip and the clear front cover are separated, the backing strip is placed under the to-be-treated hair, with the adhesive strip facing up and away from the scalp, and to-be-treated hair is placed on and secured to the adhesive strip. The to-be-treated hair is then treated with coloring agent, and the front cover portion is then closed and secured to the adhesive strip, thereby forming, with the opaque backing strip, a non-porous sandwich around the hair. It is noted that this device is quite heavy, and that the adhesive is facing away from the head, so that the hair that is to receive coloring agent is attached to the adhesive strip, thereby exposing the adhesive strip to coloring agents. While the adhesive is very aggressive when dry, when it is moistened with color agent, it may slide down the hair due to the weight of the strip. Also, because of its closed sandwich structure, the stylist must pre-open all of the sheets which will be used, or have an assistant or the client open the sheets. Since the device is made of non-porous plastic material and is completely closed at the crease, in use it inhibits the flow of the oxygen in the air to the coloring agent, thereby inhibiting oxidation, much like the foil devices. When processing is completed using the EASI MECHE device, each sandwich must be separately opened at its own adhesive closure, and the hair carefully removed from each adhesive strip, another time consuming process.
Other hair coloring variations have been suggested, such as the use of Saran type plastic wrap in a manor similar to foil, untreated paper, clamps, plastic boards, powdered coloring agents, and the like. While the prior art has suggested many methods of achieving dimensional or contrasting hair coloring, no simple or highly effective device for this purpose has been established.
None of these prior art devices or patents specifically describe a device designed to achieve dimensional or contrasting hair coloring, including highlighting, frosting, and multi-color applications which avoid all of the prior art problems, while satisfying all of the needs of the modern professional colorist. No such method or device provides an efficient way to achieve the desired satisfactory results which exclude the possibility of color bleeding onto hair that is not intended to receive color, or avoids the need to first wet the hair and thereby dilute the coloring agent, or which device will not tend to slide away from the head, require continual repositioning, readily allow ambient oxygen to access the coloring or dyeing chemicals to thereby allow the oxidation process necessary for full color development of the coloring agents, or not occupy a portion of the hair adjacent to the scalp which will not be treated by the coloring agent, or not be space consuming, and make retouching of new hair growth difficult, or which is not inefficient and time consuming, or which allow roots and sections of hair which are close to the scalp to not receive coloring agent, which allow the simultaneous application of more than one type of coloring agent to the hair, and which does not damage the hair, or require an assistant. Where a pressure sensitive adhesive is used with a foil or a plastic strip, the prior art devices fail to secure the adhesive to the foil more securely than to the hair of the client, and tends to either release onto the porous hair shaft, or slide down the hair.